MIGGOV Project

Knowledgeable Governors of Uncertainty:

International Organisations in the Absence of a Global Migration Regime

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This project seeks to break new ground in the analysis of international organizations (IOs) as key objects of study in the broader research field of international migration governance and of international governance more generally. The key questions are: to what extent, how and why do IOs impact upon and shape international migration governance in the absence of a global migration regime? Specific questions include: how do international migration governors articulate their activities and strengthen their positions in the field? What do international organisations deploy to impact migration governance? Why have international organisations become increasingly involved in the active production and dissemination of expert knowledge?

MIGGOV shifts the focus from international governance as a (changing) structure to ‘international governors’ as sources of agency and, consequently, to the outcomes that flow from interactions between various agents. Their activities contribute to global governance, which is taken to denote a complex structure of power relations between various governors (states, IOs, NGOs, etc) seeking to impact on migration policy-making either globally or regionally, which is secured mostly by influencing governments in destination and transit countries. As most international migration governance takes place under conditions of uncertainty about future migration scenarios, this project will specifically explore the issues of the production and the use of expert knowledge by IOs striving to impact upon international migration governance.

The project also proposes to analyse a region that has experienced relatively large migration flows, but has not been to the fore in analyses of international migration governance. Consequently, it is focused on the outcomes that flow from interactions between various agents and their capacity to affect the type and form of migration policy pursued in four Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.